Chelsea: The best partner for N’Golo Kante (Part One)
Chelsea’s N’Golo Kante is one of the world’s best. He has struggled with injuries recently, but who is the best partner for him in midfield?
In part one of this two part article, Oliver Smith considers how Chelsea answers the question of who to partner with N’Golo Kante to get the best out of the Frenchman. First, considering which players within the club could be best suited to the role.
World Cup winner N’Golo Kante has arguably been the best midfield “destroyer” to play the game since Claude Makelele did, with some even considering him the best ever at his position. Yet, Chelsea fans haven’t seen Kante truly at his best since the days with his midfield partner, Nemanja Matic. Matic provided the cover and stability that allowed Kante to motor around the field, disrupting play, tackling, intercepting and moving the ball forward to the creative players.
Kante and Matic only had one season together, but it proved to be Kante’s best. The Frenchman won the FWA Footballer of the Year, Premier League Player of the Season, PFA Players’ Player of the Season, Chelsea Players’ Player of the Year and London Football Awards’ Premier League Player of the Year. Part of the reason Blues fans have seen a different Kante in recent seasons is injuries, and the other part is thanks to the revolving door of managers that Kante has played under at Stamford Bridge.
Under Frank Lampard, Kante is not being asked to be as attacking as he was under Maurizio Sarri, and with good reason because the need is no longer there. The arrivals of Kai Havertz, Hakim Ziyech and the continual presence of Mason Mount has meant that the box-marauding Kante is not necessary. Lampard has used both Mateo Kovacic and Jorginho as a partner for Kante in midfield, with neither distancing themselves from the other. If the passing and vision of Jorginho could be combined with the defensive acumen of Kovacic then Chelsea would have the perfect player for Kante.
Fans have pointed to the defence as the area that still needs the most attention, with a potentially world class addition of Inter Milan’s Slovakian defender Milan Skriniar or Uruguayan defender Jose Gimenez from Atletico Madrid. However, when Matic was at the club, he was playing in front of a past his prime John Terry, a declining Gary Cahill, the always erratic David Luiz and the relatively inexperienced Kurt Zouma or Andreas Christensen.
In that 2016/17 season, Chelsea won the league at a trot and finished runners up in the FA Cup. Yet, the defence behind Kante and Matic was hardly world class. This collection of defenders—Zouma, Christensen, Antonio Rudiger, Fikayo Tomori, Ben Chilwell, Cesar Azpilicueta, Thiago Silva and Reece James—has more talent than the 2016/17 Chelsea back line. Therefore, it is conceivable that what this Chelsea team might need is not a world class defender, but rather a world class midfielder. It is also not beyond imagination that Chelsea’s long-term plan is for the midfield to be held down by Billy Gilmour and Ruben Loftus-Cheek. Both players look, at the very least, a full season of playing consistently away from being able to dominate a Premier League midfield in the way that Liverpool or Man City’s league winning sides did.
Where does Chelsea go from here, or more aptly, who does Chelsea go for? The argument should be made for Lampard to try Kai Havertz in this deeper midfield role. The German has good vision, playmaking ability and a good work rate. That move would allow Mason Mount, Christian Pulisic and Hakim Ziyech to play behind Timo Werner, while still keeping the Blues’ expensive summer signings in the line-up. The attacking flair would still be there and the manner in which Havertz glides around the field would take some of the stress off Kante.
The most obvious drawback to playing Havertz deep is that the opportunities for the German to get forward would be reduced, robbing Chelsea of one of its creative sparks. Furthermore, Havertz has shown youthful and Premier League inexperience at times this year by trying to play out from the back at the wrong times. Consider his giveaway for the first Southampton goal, he needlessly tried to dribble his way out of danger, and it proved costly. That is not to say that he cannot change, his ability and potential are so high that there is no question that the German could adapt to make that role his own. Havertz would certainly hold off challenges from the likes of Jorginho and Kovacic.
The Havertz comparisons to Michael Ballack are there for a reason. Before Chelsea splurge in the transfer market again, it is worth considering trying to coax out more of a Ballack/Lampard-esque box-to-box midfielder type role for Havertz.
Another important factor to consider is that Chelsea has been linked repeatedly to Declan Rice. It’s widely thought that the Englishman could be tempted by a return to his boyhood club and be a long-term successor to Kante in defensive midfield. If Rice replaces Kante and Havertz can be unlocked in that deeper role, the Blues will have their midfield duo cemented for years.
With Jorginho, Kovacic, Gilmour, Loftus-Cheek and the likes of Conor Gallagher still to come, Chelsea could boast one of the deepest midfields in England, if not Europe. A perfect complement that would go handsomely with one of the most fearsome attacking tridents in football. If not even for a stylistic or tactical viewpoint, then purely from a financial perspective, Chelsea would be wise to extensively test Havertz in this deep lying midfield playmaker role before the club ventures into the window in the coming months.